Music in Childhood: from preschool through the elementary grades
Patricia Shehan & Carol Scott-Kassner
Chapter 4:
Review Questions:
2) What is PSP? How is it attained?
3) What is the developmental sequence for children’s part song singing?
4) What are common components to an audition for membership in a children’s choir?
2) What is PSP? How is it attained?
- PSP stands for Perfect Singing Posture. It involves bottom to top body parts. It is attained by; Having you feet flat on the floor around six inches apart, with one foot slightly ahead fo the other. Have your weight on the balls of your feet. Knees need to be relaxed and not locked. Have your spine lifted up and away from the hips. It should be straight but not stiff. The chest should be slightly raised. Shoulders are held back and slightly down. Have your head held high as it rises out of the spine. Finally your arms and hands should hang easily by your side. This whole technique can be solidified by certain breathing exercises and stretching.
3) What is the developmental sequence for children’s part song singing?
- First the child needs to learn how to sing in tune (you can’t have harmony without the right notes). Third grade children can be successful with 2 part songs. 3 part songs are appropriate for 5th and 6th grade children. “Old Texas” is a great song to experiment with part-song singing because it has held pitches with moving melodies over top. Also use repeated melodies or ostinato patterns as your bass line. You may have 7ths or 2nds but if they resolve to a 3rd, 4ths, or 5ths it can be quite satisfying. Finally children LOVE singing cannons. It is very fulfilling and a bunch of fun when done well!
4) What are common components to an audition for membership in a children’s choir?
- You can start auditions at around 8 or 9 years old. Of course exceptions can and should be made for younger students who are passionate about music. Everyone should be given a fair chance to sing in an ensemble. Auditions should take place before or after school or during recess, just not during music class. It’s best to have the student sing a familiar song. At discretion of the music teacher they can then do scales on a common syllable or sing the familiar song as a cannon with the teacher. A couple things to look for would be; range, intonation, or how comfortable they are with singing a solo part.
Chapter 5:
Review Questions:
2. At what point are children developmentally ready to explore ideas related to tonality? What are some ways to reinforce that perception?
3. At what point can children accurately perceive the number of simultaneous sounds in a piece of music? What kinds of tasks might you create to test that ability?
Critical Thinking Questions:
- What is the difference between a percept and a concept? How are the two related?
- Percept is the ability to notice various qualities of a melody such as, major/minor modes and melodic sequences. Concept is the ability to identify or describe how these qualities function in a variety of settings and permutations. They are related because without percept (noticing the music) there is no possible way you could describe it.
2. At what point are children developmentally ready to explore ideas related to tonality? What are some ways to reinforce that perception?
- At six to eighteen months children are able to recognize differences between pitch contours. It’s not until eighteen months that children are able to recognize familiar songs or melodies. Ways to reinforce these perceptions include but are bot limited to; Singing lots of songs with the the children, engaging in vocal play and extending the range upward and downward as well as high and low to match pitch patterns, experimenting with keyboards and computer programs, show contour and phrase with bodies. This last example may include, reaching to the sky when hearing a higher pitch, or dancing in time with a fun rhythm. For recognition practice try singing a familiar song on the syllable “loo” to see if they recognize it.
3. At what point can children accurately perceive the number of simultaneous sounds in a piece of music? What kinds of tasks might you create to test that ability?
- Children begin to perceive different sounds or voices roughly around eight to twelve years old. You can begin to test this ability by singing rounds. Younger students may be able to sing in a round but have the older students really listen to everyone else while they are singing. Rounds can become a little tricky when you listen for the different pitches happening at the same time.
Critical Thinking Questions:
- If children automatically gain perceptions of pitch and pitch structures as a result of growing up in a musical rich environment, why should parents and teachers devote time to expanding those perceptions? List three reasons.
- First: Children won’t be able to express themselves through music if they have less than a rudimentary understanding of it. We need to teach them because there is so much you can’t learn without a teacher. For example, any sort of theory or they may hurt themselves.
- Second: Expanding these perceptions won’t just help them musically but it will help create more of a passion. Personally, I liked music as a kid but I didn’t fall in love with it until I started to study it. Sometimes it takes diving into the pool of knowledge to find out if it’s for you or not.
- Third: If the following generations grow up with a love and strong understanding for music hopefully it will inspire them to pass it on to their children.
- Why is it important to have a developmental perspective, beginning from the early childhood years, regarding what children are capable of perceiving? What meaning might that have for an elementary general music specialist?
- It’s important to have a strong understanding because that’s how you base your learning objectives. Try and teach an eight year old counterpoint and they’ll be begging their parents to let them quit in minutes! This is most important for a general music teacher because they are interacting with kids from kindergarten all the way to grade eight (5 to 13 years old). Kindergarten students are just beginning to conceptualize high and low pitches while a 12 year old is understanding each of the 12 chromatic notes. A teacher needs to know and understand theses differences so they can specialize each lesson. No matter the age a student should be first of all, making music. As well as being challenged at an appropriate level.
Chapter 6:
Project #4:
10 Minute Lesson:
The class will be singing The Ants go Marching
The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one;
The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two;
The little one stops to tie his shoe,
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom!
lyrics continue to 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc.
30 Minute Lesson:
10 Minute Lesson:
The class will be singing The Ants go Marching
The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one;
The little one stops to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two;
The little one stops to tie his shoe,
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain.
Boom, boom, boom!
lyrics continue to 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc.
- After teaching the lyrics choose a confident student to start the song. This student will sing the song along and march around the room (or the gym if you want/need extra space) while the other students are marching (silently) in a line.
- When the lyrics say “stop” have the students stop in place and do the action sung i.e., the one student will suck their thumb or the 4 students will stop to tie their shoe.
- when the lyrics continue to 2x2 the teacher will take 3 students from the line and add them to the song (marching in 2x2).
- When the song says marching down to the ground have them get lower and lower and when it says to get out of the rain you could spray them with a mist bottle (this way they don’t really get wet).
- Have them get round and make big stomps on the boom, boom, boom!
- Once the song is complete have the students discuss elements of the song; how they were marching in time, which foot was on what beat? Talk about dynamics and how when more of them were singing it became louder. How does this transfer into an ensemble?
30 Minute Lesson:
- Repeat the ten minute lesson. Split your class into four groups. Assign each group a song from chapter six of, Music in Childhood.
- Have each group do a similar lesson to what they just did together.
- Give them 5-10 minutes to come up with their actions. Be VERY clear that they should not be dance moves or gymnastic like actions because that’s not the true nature of Dalcroze eurhythmics.
- Have each group present then follow up with a small discussion.